Soon after the Northern Pacific Railroad established Livingston in 1883, residents used the privately owned McLeod and Swindlehurst islands in the Yellowstone River for recreation and relaxation, gathering there for picnics, church and fraternal events, Fourth of July celebrations, and during World War I, farewell dances for Livingston’s drafted men. As travel to Yellowstone National Park shifted from trains to automobiles in the late 1910s, Livingston boosters pushed for better municipal facilities to attract tourists. Between 1920 and 1924, the city acquired the two islands. McLeod Island became Miles Park after wealthy merchants A. W. Miles and Holly Hefferlin purchased and donated the land for use as an automobile campground, while local women’s groups and police chief Peter Holt renamed Swindlehurst Island after the Shoshone guide Sacajawea so that “history does not forget the services of the Indian woman.” Sacajawea Park hosted baseball, tennis, track and field, and ice skating. Gateway City Band director Joe Brooks built a band shell in 1931, and it was later moved to Miles Park in 1954. From 1935 to 1942, the Works Progress Administration transformed the two parks by dredging the river to build three dams, a lagoon, and a land bridge connecting the two islands, while the South Yellowstone Street Bridge, athletic fields, and the Streamlined Moderne style Armory/Civic Center reflected Livingston’s Great Depression-era park improvements.